Exxon disappoints as profit and production fall short

[HOUSTON] Exxon Mobil Corp fell short of analysts' fourth-quarter expectations in two key metrics: per-share profit and overall production.

Per-share net income, excluding one-time items such as a US$5.9 billion gain from US tax code changes, was 88 US cents, well short of the US$1.03 average of 20 estimates from analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Oil and natural gas output equivalent to 3.999 million barrels a day also fell shy of the 4.165 million anticipated by Wall Street.

Exxon fell 2.9 per cent to US$86.50 at 8:17am in pre-market trading. Before today, the shares had advanced 6.5 per cent this year.

Chief executive officer Darren Woods is battling to win over investors who switched to higher-growth stocks as oil prices rebounded from the 12-year low reached in 2016.

He has sought to arrest a long-term growth problem buy signing off on US$10 billion of acquisitions in the US, Brazil and Mozambique, as well as forging ahead with a major exploration venture in Guyana, off the coast of South America.

BLOOMBERG